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On Good Friday, Pitbull brought his Planet Pit Tour to the immaculate Radio City Music Hall in New York City for a two night affair. I was in attendance for the first night and the fiery hit maker did not disappoint. Backed by a full band, a large projection screen, and a catalog of recognizable songs, the man who has self-proclaimed himself as Mr. 305 and Mr. Worldwide, showed that he is an artist who loves to give his fans exactly what they want.

The night began with an impressive DJ set from Alex Sensation, a latin DJ/producer. Sensation mashed up popular latin songs with today’s top 40 hits. He had half of the crowd already up and dancing – and had everyone energized. The next two opening acts did the complete opposite and were the one real downfall of the night. Jamie Drastik was especially terrible. He wore orange sweatpants, a red sweatshirt and a jean vest and attempted songs such as “White Boy Wasted”. He failed to connect with the crowd whatsoever. For a venue as great as Radio City, I would have preferred a lot more of DJ Alex Sensation and a lot less of White Boy Wasted. Nevertheless, the opener’s sets were short and it was time for the main event. The lights went black and the curtains went up, and out walked Mr. 305.

The speakers pumped out the Intro from Pitbull’s latest album, “Mr. Worldwide” as he made his grand entrance. The lights and giant screen behind him illuminated as he blasted into one of his biggest hits to date, “Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)”. Pitbull is ever the performer. He was dressed in an all black suit, complete with a black button down, black tie, and black sunglasses.

Pitbull continuously and energetically dances around the stage with a plethero of latin dances moves mixed hip-hop swagger. He jumps, he runs, he dances, and he interacts with the crowd. All throughout the show, he was very gracious, constantly thanking his fans in both English and Spanish. Very often you heard him say “thank you guys and mucho gracias.”

The setlist was designed perfectly and could pass as both a mix for a dance party at a club or a tracklist for a Zumba class at the gym. To the crowd’s delight he performed a great deal of the songs he has been featured on, such as “Party Rock”, “I’m In Miami”, “I Like It”, “Get It On the Floor”, and “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love”. Lately, it is difficult to listen to a top 40 radio station for even twenty minutes and not hear a song Pitbull is, at least, featured on. He has become a master a picking his guest spots.

Pitbull certainly did not forget where his roots are as he gave a lot of love to the dominant group of people in the crowd that night: Latinos. Several times during his show he busted out latin dances as merengue music exploded through the speakers. He shouted to his fans phrases such as “latinos para arriba para delante y al que no le guste para el carrajo” and made it known his pride for being Cuban.

Real standout portions of the show included his hits “International Love”, “Rain Over Me”, and his final song, “Give Me Everything” (video below):

Although featured guests such as Enrique Iglesias, Chris Brown, Marc Anthony, Nayer, and Neo did not come out on stage, Pitbull’s energy and passion made up for the absence of such stars. The crowd responded to his energy the entire night as no one sat down and everyone was sweating at the end of the night from dancing so much. It is not often that an artist can carry a crowd on its feet throughout an entire live set.

Pitbull did have one special guest, as latin rapper Sensato took the stage with him for a few songs. The two did their Latino rendition of Jay-Z and Kanye West, as they performed “Latinos in Paris”, obviously a remix of the mega-hit off of the Watch The Throne album. Pitbull ended his set by once again thanking the crowd and shouting out “Mister 305, checking in and checking out” and left the stage while his newest single played in the background, “Back In Time” off of the Men In Black 3 Soundtrack.

It has been the second time I have seen Pitbull perform live. This time it made is quite apparent that Pitbull has both real star power, and staying power. He continues to crank out hit after hit and unlike many rappers before him, his live shows are spectacular. He has been able to take the best from all worlds, be it the Latin music community, the pop world, and the rap world and combine them into one extremely enjoyable experience. I look forward to attending the next dance party with Mr. 305.

The stars were out in New York City at Tuesday Night’s “Watch The Throne” concert at the world famous Madison Square Garden. As I took my seat in Section 107, Row 8, I could see the likes of Beyonce, Neo, Serena Williams, Fat Joe, and more. In fact, Alexandria Ambrosio and three other Victoria’s Secrets models sat down in the seats right next to me! About five minutes before the lights went out, Carmelo Anthony walked onto the floor and got a New York City home crowd standing ovation accompanied with chants of “Melo”. For all of the big names in the Garden that night, no one shined more than the true stars of the show.

The lights went dark at about 9:30 p.m. and it was on. Kanye appeared on a platform on the right of the arena and Jay-Z came out a few seconds later on a platform to the left. They were facing each other as they ripped into the egotistical “H.A.M.”, a bonus track off of the “Watch The Throne” album. Jay-Z was immediately in showman form as he kept yelling to the crowd “What’s Up?”. After the initial song, the platforms rose into cubes thirty feet off of the ground and transformed into giant shark tanks as they rapped “Who Gon Stop Me”.

This was one of the highlights of the show and the shark stages are getting a lot of buzz in the world of twitter and facebook. It really was a sight to behold. The back and forth interaction across the arena between “Hova” and “Ye” while standing atop these giant cubes was memorable and the two rappers seemed larger than life.

The cubes descended back into the floor and the two superstars vanished for a few minutes as they made their way to the main stage. For the next two and half hours the fans were treated to a sing along catalog of Jay-Z’s solo hits, Kanye’s solo hits, the duo’s collaborations over the years, and of course a heavy dose of Throne songs. The stage set up was unique and featured a plethera of pyrotechnics, giant images on the big screens of the two, as well as a laser light show that was breath-taking.

As you know from my previous post on this blog, I attended the same concert two nights earlier in New Jersey. While that show was incredible and had a distinct “wow” factor, this night was extra special. I have never, in all of the 200 plus concerts I have attended, been part of a crowd that was so energetic.

The entire crowd danced, rapped, sang, jumped, swayed, and bounced along with Jay-Z and Kanye West. And the two of them responded in due fashion. Kanye was acting like a maniac running sprints, dancing wildly, and giving it his all. Meanwhile, Jay-Z was as cool as ever, delivering his lyrics clearly and smoothly, and his interaction with the crowd was really what made MSG shake.

“Empire State of Mind” and “Encore” never sounded so good to me. It was like Jay-Z thought of those lyrics while standing on stage at the Garden. He was smiling throughout the show and geniunely looked like he was having the time of his life. I took a lot of time to just study his facial expressions as well as to look around the arena at all of the people going crazy. There was a special, special feeling in the air that night and everyone was a part of it.

Kanye’s wardrobe was as bizarre as ever. He changed his clothes at least five times that night and made his way through a collection of Bill Cosby-like sweaters. All throughout he wore a leather skirt and leather tights. But he gave extra that night into his performance and for once, I even saw him smile a few times. He and his big brother clearly have a lot of admiration for each other and that was evident that night as their on stage interaction was flawless and real.

The setlist was a bit different from the show I saw at the Izod Center as Kanye, to my delight, added in his first single “Through the Wire” and the two sang “Made in America”. During the latter, they dedicated the song to Heavy D, who had died that same day. They had everyone take out either a lighter or their cell phone and the entire arena became a spectacle of lights.

A funny moment was after Jay-Z performed the smash hit, “Big Pimpin”, Kanye stated to the crowd “Jay-Z was my hero growing up and I always wanted to be like him. But every time I would try to live Big Pimpin, I couldn’t because ….” and the speakers broke right into the Jamie Foxx chorus of “Gold Digger”: “she take my money”. You can see the video below of this humorous scripted moment.

The encore was completely different from Sunday night’s show and was a true fan’s delight. “***** In Paris” was played for the third time and, of course, they did “Encore”. The whole crowd was chanting “Hova, Hova, Hova” and Jay made sure the crowd also gave love to Kanye. Then Jay-Z went off script and asked a fan in the crowd what time it was and said “no really, what time is it? Like the real time”. He then said that they had fifteen minutes to run through some more hits. The two broke into some old classics like “Guess Who’s Back”, “Dead Presidents”, “All Falls Down”, “Get Em High”, “Jigga My *****”, and more. They just kept turning back to the DJ behind him and called out a song that seemed to come off the top of their head.

Like I said, there was a special feeling in the air on that night. The two music powerhouses combined at the World’s Greatest Arena to put on one of the best shows I have ever seen. It was an amazing 50 song setlist, performed flawlessly and with great pride, swagger, and passion. I have been absolutely blown away by the Watch The Throne Tour and this night was, perhaps, the best of them all.